Task chair or Ergonomic office

Ergonomic simply means something that is designed with the purpose of interaction with some kind of equipment or an environment. In the case of a chair this means a chair that is designed and constructed to make performing a specific process or action as easy and as comfortable as possible.

A simple example of this would be a chair that is intended for use by an individual who works with a computer and other desk based equipment. Chairs like this are often referred to as a task chair because they are designed to help in the performance of one or more specialised tasks.

Features of task or ergonomic chairs

Some highly specialised task chairs are actually built into, or designed as a part of, the environment in which they function. However most task chairs are independent and their ergonomic feature can be adjusted and set for both the task and the physical characteristics of the person sitting on them.

For this reason a typical task chair will have a number of settings and adjustments that can be varied independently to fit the person sitting on them and the best position, orientation and posture of the task that they will be undertaking.

There are no fixed guidelines or legislation for ergonomic chair features, but here are some of the more important customising options that you should look for.

The single most important feature is the ability to adjust the height of the seat and this should come as standard with all office chairs.

The ability to change the angle or tilt of the backrest is very important and agin is included on most ergonomic chairs.

Adjusting the tilt (forwards or backwards) of the seat itself is a feature that many people find beneficial.

A function that lets the seat slide forwards or backwards (to adjust the dimension from the front edge of the seat to the back of the knees) is important when it come to preventing pressure points.

The height of the backrest should be adjustable (i.e. it should slide up and down) so that it can be personalised for the height of the person using it.

Many task chairs incorporate some form of lumbar support. This may be an inflatable section in the backrest or a tension adjuster.

Many office tasks can benefit from a chair that has arms. When this is the case these arms need to be height and possibly even orientation adjustable so that the forearm and wrist resting level can be set correctly.

Further good features are a waterfall front to the seat (where the seat's front edge slopes downwards) and breathable fabrics that do not produce a sweaty feeling.

All good task chairs should have a solid construction, usually with a minimum of a five castor swivelling base.

One other important feature to be aware of with office based task chairs is the daily use limit. Many of these chairs are intended for 8 or 10 hours use in a single day. If you require a chair that will be in continual use (e.g. by multiple individuals), or if you intend to exceed this usage time, you will need to buy a 24 hour use chair.

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